A St. Louis lawyer couple who threatened BLM protesters with guns (photo below) are on professional probation for a year. (Story here.)
Mark and Patricia McCloskey pled guilty to misdemeanors (see story here), but were pardoned by Missouri’s GOP governor.
The McCloskeys, who have a seamy history of trying to grab property from their neighbors (see story here), have been paraded by Republicans as gun-rights heroes. They gave a taped speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention (see it here), and Trump also invited them to a State of the Union speech.
Lawyers who commit crimes are subject to professional discipline. The governor could pardon them, but has no authority over Missouri’s licensing of lawyers. That’s under the control of Missouri’s state supreme court.
The court stayed a one-year suspension and put them on probation, which means they can still practice law, but during their probation they have to “provide 100 hours of pro bono [i.e., free] legal work,” and also must submit quarterly reports, and report “any arrests, criminal charges, civil lawsuits, disputes with clients, investigations that question [their] fitness to practice law and other disciplinary complaints.”
Mark McCloskey said, “I disagree with the [Missouri] Supreme Court that what we did on our front porch constituted a misdemeanor offense involving moral turpitude. I don’t think we acted in moral turpitude at all.” I’d agree with him if he changed that to, “I don’t think we acted with moral turpitude.” Pointing a gun at someone who’s not threatening you, just because you don’t like them, isn’t a moral act.
McCloskey is running for the U.S. Senate in Missouri’s 2022 GOP primary. To see how he’s doing in the polls, go here.
